Chapter 201 VS Chenlong 4
I've conquered the "Portal Armor"!
However, this breakthrough should only be temporary, and may even be a one-time event.
Even with the most unique defensive methods, Chenlong is essentially a demon hunter who underwent monster-modification surgery and primarily uses physical enhancements in combat. Therefore, his perception approach clearly involves significantly amplifying his original five senses. However, before betraying Luoshan, he was a seasoned and experienced level-one Wuchang (a type of demon hunter). I don't believe his perception methods are limited to physical senses like sight and hearing; he likely also uses—and has probably already used—detection-related spells to compensate for certain weaknesses in his physical senses.
Once he realizes how I overcame the "portal armor," he will surely abandon his sight and switch his perception of the external environment to primarily use exploration spells, thus becoming invincible once again.
I must kill him before he can regroup.
He was still struggling in the engulfing flames, frantically attacking me. Logically, in such a short time, my flames should have killed him seven or eight times over. The reason he wasn't dead yet was because of the power of reactivation.
The power of regeneration caused everything that should have been reduced to ashes to reassemble, and this reassembly force, from another perspective, is also a force that makes matter strangely solid. The aftershocks of the battle between me and Chenlong should have shattered this secret stronghold more than once, but the stronghold still stands; Chenlong himself is the same, the flames that just erupted should have blown him to pieces, but he can still continue fighting.
As my flames rapidly destroyed his body and soul, Dr. Silver Mask's power of regeneration was also quickly healing his injuries. However, in terms of efficiency, I was still superior. As if hearing the call of death, Chenlong became even more frenzied, forcibly enduring the hellish pain of his burning body, and recklessly threw a fist filled with white explosive light at me.
"I won't lose... I can't lose!"
He seemed to be delirious from the fever, yet he still roared out a vow mixed with pain and unwavering will: "I... will save them!!"
What a deep-seated obsession!
As he made the sound, his entire body erupted with intense white light, and he lunged at me.
Is he planning to launch a self-destruct attack and take me down with him?
Even though I can't maximize the density of my fire elemental body right now, and my movement speed is slowed down by the power of reactivation, his obvious suicidal tactic shouldn't be able to hit me. But just then, the power of reactivation acting on me suddenly intensified significantly, causing my fire teleportation to slow down by half a beat.
I immediately realized that Dr. Silver Mask, who had been secretly watching our battle, was cooperating with Chenlong's suicidal tactic, using all the restart power that was applied to the entire base to suppress me alone. Chenlong took the opportunity to hold me tightly in his arms.
Their efforts seemed futile, because at this moment, strictly speaking, I was not the fire elemental body fighting Chenlong; the sea of fire engulfing the entire stronghold was my body. Merely destroying this humanoid shell seemed pointless.
But things weren't that simple; they had actually found the right strategy. Perhaps Dr. Silver Mask relied on his exceptional knowledge and insight, while Chenlong relied on his extraordinary sixth sense. They both clearly understood that this body was my "vital point."
Firstly, this body is the densest part of the sea of fire, arguably the part where my soul is most concentrated; even the surrounding flames exist to support this body. Secondly, my consciousness has a center of gravity; if my mental activities during this battle were put into words, it would be clear that the narrative revolves around this body. Therefore, this body is both its strongest and most fatal part. Attacking here is the most effective.
However, they still have misunderstandings.
They probably all thought I had completely infiltrated this secret hideout, but that's not the case. I only had one foot in this place; the other foot was still in the real world.
The instant the Dragon Explosion occurred, I shifted my focus to my physical body in the real world and consciously withdrew most of my attention from the secret base. Immediately, a deafening explosion erupted, white light and shockwaves sweeping outwards, obliterating more than half of the secret base. This was only possible because it was reinforced by the power of restart; otherwise, several more bases would have been reduced to ruins.
I don't know exactly how powerful this self-destruction was against the soul, but in any case, the few remaining fragments of my soul were torn to pieces, and my mental synchronization with the girl Lu Chan was forcibly broken. Perhaps because my main body was unharmed, even my spirit, reduced to scraps of paper, could become an extension of my perception, allowing me to see the scene inside the stronghold clearly.
Within the distorted, high-temperature void of the building, where even space itself seemed warped, countless pieces of flesh and blood gathered out of thin air as if rewinding, reassembling Chenlong's body.
The power of reactivation revived him from his self-destruction and quickly repaired everything around him.
"Did you take them down...?"
He hovered in mid-air, panting as he looked around. It was said that strange beings could sense souls; from his perspective, he should only be able to perceive that "Zhuang Cheng's soul has been scattered." Yet I was still alive. His keen sixth sense seemed to sense something as well, his expression showing intense vigilance.
Without hesitation, he loosely clenched his right fist. Shadow power erupted from between his fingers, rapidly covering his entire body and reforming the "portal armor." However, how could I allow him to don it again? Just as the shadow power was about to completely encapsulate him, I activated a fire teleportation technique, appearing behind him.
My arm pierced through the gap in the power of shadow, going straight through his heart.
“What…” He turned his head in disbelief.
This time, he was truly going to die.
Since he's so sensitive to life-or-death crises, he must have realized it by now. His eyes, as he looked at me, held not only shock but also intense despair.
Before he could speak, I unleashed a torrent of flames. This time, he didn't even have time to scream before his body was reduced to charred black charcoal in the flames, and the shadowy power that enveloped him evaporated instantly.
This was a point-blank fire burst attack. Although objectively speaking, "attack distance" isn't important to me, given my ability to merge my spirit with the flames and ambient heat, I still unconsciously believe that targets closer to my body are easier to destroy. Therefore, this attack was a level more powerful than before.
The omnipresent power of regeneration was temporarily overwhelmed by the force of this attack, unable to help Chenlong resist the damage. I could feel an enormous "slag" appearing within my flames. This was Chenlong's soul, refined by me.
Almost simultaneously, the rewind and restoration process of the surrounding environment suddenly halted, and all the restarting power concentrated on Chenlong's charred remains, causing bones and flesh to reappear. Even the "slag" I had just obtained was gradually dissolving and disappearing, transforming into a healthy soul to return to Chenlong's remains.
I once again unleashed the full power of the flames to incinerate the charred remains. The bones, flesh, and soul that had just recovered were reduced to charcoal and "slag" once more. The power of rebirth intended to revive Chenlong and the power of flames that were constantly killing Chenlong were locked in a stalemate, a veritable endless tug-of-war.
However, this resistance was not beyond my expectations. I knew very well that the power of reactivation would revive Chenlong. And I had already made up my mind about it—I was going to die.
While preventing the power of restart from reclaiming the "slag", I activated the fire teleportation.
The object to be teleported is not me, but the huge "slag" corresponding to Chenlong's soul.
In an instant, the "slag" was transported outside the independent reality space. Calling this process teleportation might not be quite right, because this huge "slag" was never materialized in the first place, and there's no indication of any teleportation involved. However, since it was something preserved within the flames, the principle is similar to teleporting one's personal belongings from one place to another.
In this way, Chenlong had no hope of being resurrected.
The domain of the power of reactivation is limited to this independent physical space, and it is impossible to trace the souls that were sent to the outside world.
Chenlong, died.
As if realizing its defeat, the power of regeneration retreated from the charred remains of Chenlong. Perhaps because it had lost the support of magic, the charred remains could only fall to the ground, and could no longer withstand my flames, thus vaporizing and disappearing, leaving only a mess of charred marks.
Within those charred marks, there seemed to be a small, glittering object.
Seeing this, I landed on the ground and took a closer look. It appeared to be a silver badge. It was probably a small item that Chenlong had always carried with him, and it was completely unharmed despite being exposed to the flames.
What on earth is this thing? Curious, I picked up the badge and examined it closely, but couldn't see anything special about it. It seemed to be just a metal object with a single character ("一") engraved on it in calligraphy, and I couldn't sense any power in it. How did this thing withstand my flames?
Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind me; someone was slowly walking towards me.
Looking back, it was the young girl Lu Chan. It seemed that she had come over as soon as she realized that the battle here was over.
She stopped a short distance away, looked at the empty, charred marks on the ground, and then fell silent.
I cannot imagine her feelings for Chenlong, her former friend who betrayed her, nor can I imagine her state of mind as she witnesses his death.
Her face did not show any emotion of revenge, but rather a hint of sadness and boredom.
She didn't say a word.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com